Sky coaching staff wears many hats during WNBA offseason

In the WNBA, being multifaceted is part of the game.

Whether it’s head coaches who also serve as general managers like James Wade, or players who are also building business empires like Candace Parker, the league is comprised of individuals who have perfected the ability to juggle.

There are many reasons for this, but the simplest explanation is the WNBA is a six-month season and the max base salary is $228,094. So, not only is there ample time to earn more money, but there’s also a need for it.

Seven of the Sky’s 11 players currently are playing overseas, with most of them having to report within a two-week period after the WNBA season concluded. As for Wade’s coaching staff, well, they’re no different.

Emre Vatansever, Tonya Edwards and Ann Wauters all replace their WNBA hats at the season’s end.

Here’s what the WNBA offseason looks like for the Sky’s assistant coaches:

Vatansever

Vatansever has been coaching since he was 17 and earned his first head-coaching role this year, leading Çukurova BK in Turkey. His roster includes five current WNBA players: Chelsea Gray, Briann January, Tiffany Hayes, DeWanna Bonner and Jonquel Jones.

Wade and Vatansever’s relationship goes back a number of years when the two were coaching on opposing sidelines in Europe. Wade’s first memory of Vatansever was his energy.

“The first thing I said to him after the game was ‘your energy seems infectious,’ ” Wade said.

Vatansever’s first coaching job in the WNBA was as a coaching intern on Jenny Boucek’s Seattle Storm staff. He spent three seasons there before joining Amber Stock’s staff with the Sky in 2017. When Wade became the Sky’s sixth coach and general manager, Vatansever remained. Over the last four seasons, Vatansever has developed into a top assistant coach in the league, and he led the Sky to back-to-back wins in June during Wade’s two-game absence because of COVID-19.

Vatansever has not interviewed for any of the three WNBA coaching vacancies (Indiana, Dallas and Los Angeles), which came as a surprise to himself and Wade.

“My time will come,” Vatansever said. “I trust my work. I always did. Opportunities always come, all I need to do is keep working hard.”

Edwards

The first person to ask Edwards about coaching was her college coach, Pat Summitt.

Nearing graduation, exhausted from a tournament run that ended with a heartbreaking 79-75 overtime loss to Virginia after having already won two national championships for Tennessee, Edwards told Summitt she had no interest. But less than a year later she was coaching her high school alma mater in Flint, Michigan. It was the opportunity to impact youth that drew in Edwards. Her career on the bench was paused when she returned to the court to play overseas in Turkey, Israel and Italy before four seasons in the…